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Angler’s latest fishing adventure in Saskatchewan

Jeff Currier of Victor, Idaho, holds up the 39-inch northern pike he caught recently while fishing Reindeer Lake in Saskatchewan. Currier said he and his fishing partner landed many pike in the 33-35 inch range as well as one that measured 43 inches.

This normally stalwart reporter confesses to a bit of unease every time he opens an e-mail from one Jeff Currier.

Currier, an extremely talented author, artist and fly angler from Victor, Idaho, is a familiar face around Grand Junction, having been a frequent speaker and featured guest at the Western Colorado Fly Fishing Exposition each spring.

In the past, I’ve heard from Currier, who claims to have caught 225 species of salt- and freshwater fish in more than 40 countries, after he has risked life and limb fishing for large, toothy specimens in such diverse spots as Mongolia, Australia, Patagonia and Egypt.

Which is reason enough to be cautious when opening an e-mail, since you never know what’s going to jump out at you.

It’s sure to be something finned and fierce, whether it’s a mahseer from India, a peacock bass from Brazil or a rarely seen (and less often caught) taimen from Mongolia.

And that doesn’t count his trips through most of the United States, Mexico and Canada. Which brings us, finally, to Currier’s latest missive.

Currier spent 20 years guiding anglers and working (those two things are not always the same) for renowned outfitter Jack Dennis in Jackson, Wyo., before recently starting his own business, Global Fly Fishing.

It’s an apt name and one that brings us to the latest chapter in Currier’s itinerant angler life.

A trip earlier this month to Pagato and Reindeer lakes in Saskatchewan shortly after ice-out produced many notable moments, Currier wrote in an e-mail. It also produced the heavyweight northern pike seen elsewhere on this page.

The notebook entry says this particular fish was 39 inches long and caught on a “huge chartreuse bunny streamer” protected from the pike’s razor-like teeth by a 30-pound tippet with 40-pound knottable wire tied directly to the fly.

That’s on top of the many pike between 30–35 inches that he and fishing partner Chris Hart landed prior to the big one taking Currier’s streamer.

By the end of that day, his last in Saskatchewan for this trip, Currier wrote he not only was exhausted but exhilarated by the number and size of pike caught.

“This may sound insane, but by day’s end, Chris and I landed at least twenty-five pike over 30 inches,” Currier wrote on his blog, flyfishing bum.blogspotspot.com. “Many of these were better than 36 inches and Chris boated a 43-incher!

“I love pike fishing anywhere I go, but after today, it will never be the same again.”

Currier also recently concluded his annual angling “marathon,” fishing from sunup to sundown on the longest day of the year on the Harriman Ranch stretch of the Henry’s Fork River.

“Being able to spend 15 hours or more outdoors in daylight can’t be beat,” Currier wrote. “That’s why 24 years ago I came up with the ‘Marathon.’ I always fish and hike my way from the Last Chance (Idaho) parking lot all the way down to Osborne Bridge on Highway 20 and then back. It’s a total distance of about eight river miles.”

The experience has been memorial, he says, even though it’s a bit shorter now he’s a bit older.

“The last five or so years the hours have been more civilized with parking lot departures of 7 a.m. and returns of 10 p.m. — still plenty of fishing,” he wrote. “Some years there have been as many as 10 of us while others had a mere three or four.

“Regardless of who came over the years, the end result is one of my most enjoyable fishing days of the year,” he wrote.

This is Currier at his finest, and angling writing about as good as any found today.

Even if, as he says, many of his messages “are sent from Internet cafes from far flung reaches of the Earth.”